Weather Warning ahead of extensive lightning in the north of Scotland

We’ve moved to Weather Warning status in the north of Scotland ahead of extensive, prolonged, lightning forecast for most of Wednesday and Thursday this week.

This Weather Warning status indicates the likelihood of disruption that this period of severe weather could cause, and the extra measures we’re taking in response.

Lightning is expected over a widespread area, as successive weather fronts move up from the south and across Argyll, Stirling, Perthshire, Angus, the Highlands, Aberdeenshire and Moray. This includes parts of the Highlands and Aberdeenshire which were particularly affected by Storm Floris last week.

🌩️ How lightning could affect the network

The way lightning can affect our electricity distribution network differs from the impacts seen in other storms, where gale-force winds are the principal cause of damage. Restoration times are also generally shorter.

Much of our network is designed with advanced technology built-in, so that if lightning strikes the infrastructure, it automatically closes down for a brief period of time to allow a series of safety checks to take place. After these are completed, and the integrity of the network is confirmed, supplies will often be re-established at that point and customers may notice only short interruptions to their power supply.

Over the past five years, we’ve also installed lightning protection technology at more than 100 of our sites on the north of Scotland network where lightning impact has been more common.

However, severe lightning strikes can also affect the network for longer periods, if actual damage is caused to lines, poles, and equipment in substations and transformers. Fuse replacements on the network may also need to be carried out.

The way lightning can affect the network means it’s important that customers call us free on 105 or contact us via the PowerTrack website or app, if their power supply remains off for any length of time. Extra call handlers are being brought in to manage an expected increase in the number of customer calls.

👷 How we’re responding

We’ve been monitoring the weather system that’s bringing lightning to the north of Scotland for several days now, and we’re preparing for the likelihood of network disruption. We’re doing this through bringing in additional control room teams, preparing our supplies of replacement components, and putting extra engineering teams on standby to repair any faults as soon as it’s safe to do so.

Text messages will be sent to customers with vulnerabilities in the areas which could be most affected with help and advice, and extra people are being brought in to respond to an expected increase in the numbers of customer calls and messages coming in via social media.

📞 How you can prepare, and how we’ll help you

If you see any damage to our equipment, please stay back, don’t touch it, and instead report it to us directly by calling 105, or via our Power Track website. Our engineers will investigate this as soon as possible.

We’d also encourage you to prepare for the possibility of disruption to supplies by:

• Saving our emergency power cut number - '105' - to your phone to report any loss of supply or damage to the electricity network.
• Visiting our Power Track Website for details of power cuts and restoration times. You can also report power cuts and network damage through Power Track.
• Visiting the "Preparing for a power cut" section on our website, where there’s a wealth of advice and information, or to chat live to one of our advisors via the Webchat service.
  
  Customers are also eligible for our Priority Services Register (PSR) if they:

• Are deaf or hard of hearing.
• Have a disability.
• Live with children under five.
• Are blind or partially sighted.
• Have a chronic illness.
• Use medical equipment/aids reliant on electricity.
• Are over 60.

To find out more about the PSR, click here or call 0800 294 3259.